Tim Starling wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
In 2002, before the change of software, the ip
information was visible
even when users were identified under a pseudonyme. The information
could be visible when people were just moving the mouse's pointer over
the name of the user.
When the software was upgraded, this option disappeared and the ip data
of registered users became *private* data.
I would like to know if that disappearance was discussed at that time
and if it was on purpose that ip data of loggued in people became
*private* data.
I'm pretty sure there was a bug report from Lee Daniel Crocker in
SourceForge indicating that the behaviour was accidental and that he
intended to fix it by reimplementing the mouseover feature. He was shouted
down on that bug report, by Brion and various users. The expectation that
IP addresses are private data was already well established by that time. I
can't find the bug report now.
Once something is private, it's very hard to make it public again. There
was a similar outcry when I proposed making watchlists public. If
watchlists had been public from the outset, I doubt anyone would have even
requested that they be made private, and their usefulness would have been
pretty much the same.
-- Tim Starling
Well,
I remember quite well the previous feature, as the french wikipedia was
switched to the new mediawiki 8 months after my arrival. During 8
months, we saw the "private" data.
I wonder if we might not argue that making this data private made
somewhat more damages to the tissu of the community than if the data had
been kept public. Legally speaking, it weakens our case. It goes against
the principles of transparency and responsibility that we like to put
upfront. It simplifies defense strategy against vandals and sockpuppets.
It avoids power grabs (or perception there of) by the few members who
succeed to get access to the data.
I am looking for some arguments to keep it private. Others than "well,
this is the default behavior".
I did not find the past discussion. What happened ?
ant